Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.
If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.
Thank you for joining us today.
And so, without further ado, we're going to dive in, of course, to Acts chapter 5.
If you haven't noticed, if you're kind of new to Calvary chapels or new to this church,
we go through the Bible, okay?
We take little chunk by little chunk.
We try to keep things to a theme within the scripture, you know, so we don't, you know,
go through too many things at once and it becomes convoluted and confusing.
And so today, we're only going through verses 12 to 16.
And I just want to, for you to prepare your hearts now,
because I really believe the Lord wants to do something great here this morning.
I think He wants to bring physical healing.
Anyone suffering today with some healing that you would like to receive from the Lord?
I know I am. I have several things, you know.
And so I believe there's going to be something coming your way from the Lord this morning
as we read His word and honor His word and believe what it says.
I believe we're going to receive that.
And if not for you, someone you know and love, you know,
perhaps the Lord is going to do that.
So we're really going to focus in on that as we dive into this.
And just to sort of set it up, we're going to give a little intro about where we've been very brief.
But let's pray and thank the Lord for His word.
Father God, I just thank You for this dear family of brothers and sisters.
Lord, I thank You that You are the same yesterday, today, and forever, Lord.
And You, You are, we can trust Your character.
And, Lord, we can trust who You are, Lord.
And we ask You to move in the same way You moved in the early church today,
in today's churches, specifically in Lansdale Life Church.
We're believing that You will do the same thing today as You've done in the past.
And You will do the same thing in the future as well.
So, Lord, we thank You, we trust You.
And, Lord, we ask You to open up our minds to Your scripture, Lord.
I just pray that You would block me from any distractions
so that I could just rest fully in what Your word says
and what You want to say here this morning.
I ask this in Jesus' name, amen.
So, we see we're up to chapter 5 of Acts.
And I just want to go over a few of the things that we've observed
that really made for the culture and the conditions
for the growth of the kingdom of God.
Tammy, if you have that first slide up,
the early church grew where five conditions were present.
Now, there's a lot of sub-conditions in there too, you know.
But really where there were five things active in the church.
And we've observed that right from Pentecost,
first and foremost was the Holy Spirit came upon the saints.
In fact, Jesus said, don't do a thing until you receive Him, okay?
Just stay put. You're going to do some damage otherwise.
Just stay put because apart from me, you can do nothing, okay?
So, He said, wait for the Holy Spirit to come.
So, without the Holy Spirit, we can do nothing, right?
So, the Holy Spirit fell at Pentecost.
And from that point on, really,
the church has to rely on the Holy Spirit to fuel us in everything we do.
Otherwise, we're moving in the flesh and the carnal man,
and it's not going according to God's will, right?
We're like, the Holy Spirit's like the fuel in the gasoline.
Fuel in the gas tank, okay?
And it's what propels us and our church by the Holy Spirit.
And so, first and foremost is the Holy Spirit.
And if you notice, the Holy Spirit has something to do with the rest of these things.
Because, of course, the next thing is the Word of God.
Because Peter, after the Pentecost came and the Holy Spirit came upon them
and filled them, Peter started preaching the Word, okay?
Of course, people were like, cut to the heart, you know?
Because the Holy Spirit, right, is active, sharper than a two-edged sword.
And what does it do?
It divides what?
Soul and spirit, right?
Joint and marrow, and we can peel that all part level, the metaphors for that, right?
And then finally, the thoughts and the intentions.
So, the Holy Spirit knows how to use the Word of God to do what it needs to do.
To just dig in there like surgery and remove what needs to be removed
and impute what needs to be put in there, right?
And so, the Word of God, it's the sword of the Spirit, right?
So, the Holy Spirit knows how to use the Word of God.
And then the next thing we saw is repentance, okay?
Because people heard this and they say, brothers, what must we do to be saved?
Like, what's next, right? What do we got to do?
He says, repent for the remission of sins, repent.
And so, repentance, it's turning from our old ways.
In fact, Isaiah's message yesterday was a lot about renewing your mind, that metamorphosis of the mind.
Like, realizing that I got to turn from the direction I'm going in.
And it really involves, well, in fact, Jesus said at his Last Supper Discourse,
which stretches over several chapters of John,
Jesus said, you know, you're sorry because I say that I'm leaving.
It's good for you that I'm leaving.
Because if I don't leave, the Holy Spirit would not come.
And when he comes, he will fill you,
but he will also convict the world of sin because they don't believe in me, right?
Righteousness, because I go to my Father, but you're still here.
You're the evidence of my righteousness. Think about that, right?
I'm paraphrasing someone here.
But you can read it for yourself in John chapter 16.
And then what else did he say?
And also to convict the world of judgment,
because the ruler of this world has been judged, right?
So the Holy Spirit brings that repentance
and even the fear or the righteous reverent fear of the Lord.
We looked into that last week, remember?
Ananias and Sapphira, how when they were, you know,
lying to the Holy Spirit and so forth,
and suddenly the Lord just took them out.
And we talked about that,
that the Lord needed for his purposes to do that,
to send a signal, okay,
and to really get ahead of more sin
that would compile because of that.
Because we knew it was the work of Satan,
and Ananias and Sapphira lie to the Holy Spirit
and they were there for themselves.
And really Peter knew that the Lord
was going to put a stop to this right now.
He needed to make an example out of Ananias
and Sapphira right there.
And fear broke out, like, whoa, like, you know,
that means God's real, you know?
And we talked a little bit last week about how,
I don't know if you've ever watched those, you know,
they mocked God and found out.
I don't know if any of you have looked that up
since I mentioned it, but it's pretty spooky
when you see people literally either just fall, drop, down,
you know, as they're mocking Jesus,
or things that happened shortly after that,
like the Olympics debacle either a year or two years ago
when the lights totally went out
after they did that ridiculous last supper of depravity.
And I don't know if you, well, anyway, let's move on.
But so you see what I'm saying?
The Holy Spirit brings fear, a healthy fear, right?
Because the beginning of understanding is the fear,
but perfect love casts out fear.
So once you fall in love with the Lord,
you don't necessarily, you still revere Him,
but you're not as fearful of, like, discipline and so forth,
and you're certainly not fearful of wrath.
You're more fearful of missing out on what He wants to bring.
Really, that Holy FOMO, you know, fear of missing out
on the Lord, what He wants to do.
And, you know, I fear that a lot of times.
I go, is there something God wants to be doing
that I'm missing out on, you know?
But it's that idea.
So the Holy Spirit brings all this.
And then next thing, of course, is the lifestyle
and community of God.
And we were talking about how when the Holy Spirit came
and grace was upon the early church,
that they were so benevolent.
They were so generous.
They were just pouring out.
No one had any need.
And they were just giving to one another
at the feet of the apostles because they knew
that there was need.
But they said, you know, I have more than enough.
I'll just, you know, I could sell this.
I could do this.
I could just give.
And doesn't the Lord do that when you realize
just what you've been saved from,
what you've been forgiven of, what you've been given?
You know, we have an eternity and inheritance
set before us that we can never spend.
I mean, we can tap into it, but we can never outspend it.
It's going to go on and on.
Like we have a glorious future in our inheritance with God.
When you have that kind of trust fund, right,
with the Lord, you don't have to worry too much
about what's going on down here.
You could spend it for others.
You know, in fact, the Lord even says to use filthy mammon
to win friends and influence enemies for the future.
Again, I'm paraphrasing.
But so anyway, so they were generous.
And we saw that, you know.
And then finally, the power of God is that fifth condition
or situation or environment that the kingdom of God grows, okay?
Because the power of God is exhibited.
It's manifested, okay?
That the word is dunamis, that holy power of God
where we get the word dynamite, that explosive power of God,
right?
And so the Lord is going to bring in this sexual reading
real power, real dunamis power in signs, wonders, healings,
and deliverance.
And so praise the Lord for that.
So let's dive in and read.
We're going to stop just a couple of times as we go.
All right, verse 12.
And through the hands of the apostles,
many signs and wonders were done among the people.
So let's just stop there for a second
at the hands of the apostles, laying hands.
And let's just talk about that a little bit.
You know, especially if you're newer to Christianity.
I know when I first started going to,
I was not a believer yet,
and I started going to our old Baptist church
and even they laid hands on sometimes, I believe, didn't they?
I guess they're a little advanced
for what people used to classify as Baptists
because we believed in the gifts of the Spirit
in that Baptist church.
And I can remember laying hands
and somebody's like, touch me.
I'm like, what are you doing?
Are you weird?
Because it was strange.
And maybe to some of you, it's still kind of strange.
Like, why do they do that?
But it has a lot of symbolism
and a lot of authority and power.
In fact, it goes back really to the Old Testament.
I won't get too much into it,
but the priests were told
to lay their hands on the head of the sacrifice.
And in that way, it was like transmitting
the sins of the people upon the sacrifice.
So there's actually something happening here.
It's like a transference, right?
The sins of the people onto the animal,
then the animal was slain
because without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sins.
So by this animal dying for the people,
it was in a sense taking their place, right?
And so, of course, the scapegoat was a little different.
We don't have time to get in all that,
but they laid hands and that thing went off
and hopefully didn't come back to town.
Can you imagine that?
It's like, he's back, you know?
But so anyway, read into that.
Just put in your blue little Bible scapegoat
and you can read all about it.
And so that's the idea,
is laying hands caused something to happen, right?
But in the New Testament, we even see it more.
We see that they laid hands for signs and wonders.
They laid hands to bring the Holy Spirit upon people,
to impart the Holy Spirit.
In fact, in Acts chapter eight, we see that.
Remember, and then Simon the Sorcerer's watching like,
oh, that looks like something I could use for me.
Back to the old Ananias of Fire,
kind of spirit of Satan, right?
And saying, I kind of want that for me.
And then remember, you know, Peter said,
you are evil and wicked and kind of ended weird.
You don't know what happened to him after that,
but I guess we can't assume too many good things
unless he repented.
But anyway, I digress.
So we get the idea that it imparts the Holy Spirit, okay?
It also dispenses gifts of the Spirit.
Paul writes to Timothy and he said,
don't neglect the gift you receive
as I laid hands on you and prophesied over you.
And then he says it again in the second letter of Timothy
to Timothy saying, you know,
remember fan into flame that gift that you receive
from the laying on of my hands, right?
So there's a lot of importance to all this.
And then finally commissioning to say,
we're going to lay hands.
In fact, how many, you know, you guys have seen missionaries
being sent out, right?
And everyone lays hands on them
or point your hand towards them.
You know, like that beam,
that holy beam across the room.
And we all lay hands on people
and in a sense we're commissioning saying,
may the Holy Spirit be upon you as before you go out, right?
And so there's so much significance to this.
So when we see it happening, it's not a weird thing.
It's what God commands to do.
We're going to get into that in a minute
when we look at that verse.
And so let's move on from there.
So they're laying on of hands
and signs and wonders were happening
and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch.
Again, this is only the second
of a couple of stops we're going to make.
But Solomon's porch, if we could show that picture there
and I showed this a few weeks ago or a couple of weeks ago.
And so this is actually a model.
Again, up here if you see, it's actually a walkway.
This is in Israel, really cool.
And it's supposed to be a pretty accurate model
of the temple and the wall.
Okay, of course the temple Mount is,
there's no more temple there.
And so anyway, remember a couple of weeks back,
Peter saw the man who was lame since birth
and he prayed and he healed him.
And from that point they went over
to what's called the Solomon's porch
or Solomon's colonnade or portico, okay.
And it was here that Peter and John
were talking and preaching to people.
So could you imagine you're heading into the temple
and suddenly you see what's going on over there.
There's a lot of action happening over there.
So eventually curious people would start walking over
and checking it out before you know it.
They're here in the gospel, okay.
And so here's where they are now.
They're preaching in Solomon's portico or colonnade.
And it's interesting because that's exactly where Jesus
preached that amazing message in John chapter 10
when he revealed that he is the son of God.
And some people say he never said he was the son of God.
He did in John chapter 10.
And as he was preaching and he was saying,
you know, I and the father are one.
I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
First they said, are you truly the Christ?
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
I and the father are one.
I mean, that would almost made their heads blow up.
Did you hear what he just said, right?
And he's like, you're compared.
And he's picked up stones ready to stone them, right?
And he says, for what good works
are you about to stone me for?
And he said, because you're claiming that you're God.
And then he goes on and he says, well, you know,
because I'm the son of God, not just like God,
I am the son of God.
I and the father are one.
Isn't that amazing?
So he preached that right in that location.
So Solomon's porch has some great relevance
even to this message.
And they were in all in one accord we just read.
So they're here.
Oh, that's right.
We don't need it.
So they're up in the in the portico
and they're, you know, and they're being preached to
and they're just like minded.
They're in fellowship, but they just love
like this is a euphoric feeling.
I mean, I feel so often when I'm with fellow believers,
I'm like, you know, it's so great just understanding you
because we have the same Holy Spirit.
We're connected.
We're eternally connected.
Think about that.
Any temporal issue we have, we are eternally connected.
In fact, you know, we just, Jill and I just did
premarital counseling with someone last week.
And there's a topic on divorce.
How do you feel about divorce?
And we just say, we say the same thing actually
that Jill's mom said to us.
Never use the word D in your arguments.
Like divorce is not part of your arguments vocabulary.
It's just not there.
Okay, because once you start to even suggest
that there could be an end to this,
if you do the wrong thing, it brings in doubt,
questions, and fear, right?
And so, you know, in the same way,
when we have a falling out with a true brother and sister,
and I say that because there are untrue ones, right?
But a true one, you say like, this is such a nothing.
Like, just like even when you think about it,
Paul and Barnabas.
Yeah, this isn't working out, okay?
Now, I'm sure it's a little harsher than that, okay?
But this isn't working out.
All right, you and your nephew, you go to Cyprus.
But I'm going, I'm taking Silas,
and we're heading back where we were before.
It's like, just work it out.
We're eternally connected.
Like, we have an eternal family in the States.
Do we really want to mess it up
with temporal arguments and discussions, right?
And so, but one accord, and that's so important.
This word, homophimodon, is like really means
with one accord is actually one word, okay?
Homophimodon.
And it's used 11 times in the book of Acts.
Because it's like-mindedness.
That's why so many amazing things happen.
Because it's a condition where the kingdom of God spreads.
When people are saying, you know what?
Whatever I have against you, it's unimportant.
Because you know what?
You probably rightfully have some things against me.
Let's just work it out.
You know, it's like-minded.
In fact, the word says again, again,
they had all things in common.
And that like-mindedness, it was so important.
That oneness.
You know, Paul wrote about this oneness in Ephesians 4,
verses 1 to 6.
He said, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord
beseech you to walk worthy of the calling
with which you were called,
with all lowliness and gentleness,
with long suffering here with one another,
in love, endeavoring to keep the unity
of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
There is, watch this, one body, one Spirit,
just as you were called in one hope of your calling,
one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God.
And further all of you, I'm sorry,
and God and Father of all who is above all
and through all and in you all.
There's a lot of ones there, isn't it?
So we are one.
In fact, it's interesting, Jesus said,
may they be one with one another and with you and I, Father.
Just one, like that connection, that one accord.
It's so, so important.
In fact, John Wesley was one of the founders
of the Methodist movement, okay,
which became the Methodist Church.
And he wrote, though we cannot think alike,
may we not love alike.
We have so many disagreements about theology.
Your theology, theology.
It's not the Trinity, okay?
Theology is not one of the persons of the Trinity.
It's important to grasp Scripture.
In fact, Ray, what did we just talk about upstairs
a minute ago, right?
A few minutes ago, we were talking
and we were comparing what this other denomination thinks
or whatever and I said, I think we're all gonna get
to heaven someday and realize we had a little bit
of this or that wrong, okay?
I'm okay with that because you know what?
We got the one thing right.
Jesus Christ, okay?
If I didn't realize there was some form of this
and I just totally wrote it off, you know,
it's like we got a major in the majors, okay?
And not dissect theology and then judge someone
based on what they believe about that little thing.
I'm not talking about big things.
I'm talking about little things, okay?
It could bring true disunity.
And so they were with one accord, just loving one another.
And so let's move on from there.
Verse 13, yet none of the rest dare join them.
I wonder why.
You know, think about that.
Like they're walking, remember the portico
and they're walking by and they're like,
hey, there's some good people over there, okay?
They're really like, a lot of good things are happening.
They really love each other, you know?
And they're really, they're so, they just seem like people
I'd love to know.
But I don't want to go there.
I want to just go to what I'm used to.
You know, religion's like that, isn't it?
Religion really is a lot like that.
It's like kind of saying, you know,
I get the freedom and all, but that can't really be holy.
It's too much fun.
It can't be fun, okay?
I remember my beloved mother, she's with the Lord now,
and she would come and visit, okay?
Us, okay?
But then she had to go to her church, okay?
Her Catholic church, I'll just say.
She had to go to Catholic church, okay?
Because she had to.
It's part of who she was.
It's like, it's, you know, it's just,
her identity is being Catholic.
But she believed everything we were doing
here in this church.
She thought it was tremendous.
In fact, when she got saved,
she was praising God towards the end there.
I've never heard her speak like this.
And it's the thresholds of her departure to heaven
with the Lord.
And she's suddenly saying things like,
this is my mom?
Like, where did this come from?
80 years old, she's suddenly getting it.
Praise the Lord, right?
It's never too late, you know?
The criminal on the cross is evidence of that.
It's never too late.
But really, it's like, man,
she could have had so much, even more freedom.
But she just, this is what I know, you know?
And this is what people knew.
They passed by.
They wouldn't join them.
But finally, some just broke loose and say,
no, I got to go check this out.
I'm going to see what's happening up there on the portico.
And soon, it's not going to stay there either.
It's going to spread out through the streets
because you can't contain the Spirit of God.
When the Lord is moving, he's just going to take over, you know?
And the gates of Hades will not prevail against the kingdom of heaven.
Amen?
He's just going to boom, just blow the place up.
So let's move on.
And now we're going to finish.
So verse 14,
And believers were increasingly added to the Lord,
multitudes of both men and women,
and so that they brought the sick out into the streets
and laid them on beds and couches,
that at least the shadow of Peter passing by
might fall on some of them.
Also, a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem,
bringing the sick people and those who were tormented
by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.
That's not a throw-in word.
The word literally is all.
They were all healed.
I mean, wow, they were all healed.
I just want to mention the shadow of Peter,
because, you know, actually dating back to Egypt,
there were a lot of writings about people, you know,
mystically believed that the shadow was like an extension
of the person's soul or spirit,
and it had some embodiment in and of itself.
I guess, I hope I'm explaining that correctly.
And so the shadow had an importance, okay?
And, you know, and had a personality, in a sense,
or at least an identity of itself,
because it was an extension of someone else, the shadow, right?
And yet, it does not say the shadow healed anybody, okay?
But they wanted to get so close to Peter
that even if his shadow just touched,
but they're all healed regardless.
I mean, it's amazing how sometimes the Lord works,
even in spite of people's superstitions
and false beliefs, He just blesses them anyway.
Just because He wants to demonstrate His power.
I was talking to somebody recently.
They're talking about how they pray the rosary
and great things happen, and I'm like,
well, you know, there's a lot of things
that don't line up with that.
And I grew up Catholic, so I know, you know,
but like, you know, just take most of the prayers
on that chain, they're to the wrong person, right?
But anyway, but like, you know what?
If you're using this to stay, keep yourself in line,
I don't agree with it, but just keep following Jesus, okay?
Just follow Jesus.
Don't follow a shadow.
Don't follow a person who has the gimmicky ways
to do this, to do that, to get healed, to deliver.
You know, yeah, it's great if they have a method super,
but it's always Jesus Christ, okay?
Everything else is a shadow.
Everything else is not the real deal, you know?
And the Lord, for one reason or another, His graciousness,
He just says, yeah, yeah, they got that completely off,
but you know what?
I'm gonna heal them anyway, okay?
And they heal them anyway.
And it's just so amazing to see God be so benevolent like that.
You know, in fact, I love even the things
that were a picture in the Old Testament
weren't really the Messiah, right?
They were pointing to the Messiah.
I love this verse in Colossians 2, 16 and 17.
It says, let no one judge you in food or in drink
or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbath,
in other words, the law,
which are a shadow of things to come,
but the substance is of Christ.
It's always about Jesus Christ.
He's the power, and of course, His Holy Spirit,
because they're all one, right?
And so it's Jesus who always heals.
It wasn't Peter's shadow.
It wasn't anything else, and it wasn't Peter.
It was Jesus Christ who healed through His Holy Spirit.
And so, you know, so we read this, okay?
And I don't know about you, but I read all were healed.
And I know some of you right now,
there might be someone saying,
well, I'm getting healed today.
Praise the Lord.
But there might be some that are saying,
oh, we're not gonna do this whole thing, are we?
And go like healing and going on and on about.
Today is the day you're gonna be healed right here,
right now.
You know, why not?
Why won't He heal the same way He did yesterday
as He does today?
I'll be honest, I got a situation in my shoulder
and you know about my heart.
Maybe the heart will be healed today.
I won't know for a while, anyway.
But my shoulder, you know, but like a part of me is saying,
yeah, but, you know, maybe for someone else.
But not necessarily for me, because, you know,
I got this thing.
That's wrong thinking.
It's wrong thinking.
I'll tell you what, like, when my nephew, Ian, okay,
he was born with so many issues, okay,
and we would pray, Jill and I,
we would be telling him the gospel,
but he couldn't communicate.
And he was in a wheelchair all of his life,
never ate a meal.
Always ate through a tube.
And I just, just like, Lord, why?
Why?
You know, and we would pray,
and I would pray and literally,
we'd be on vacation all together.
Let me say, Lord, when I get up tomorrow morning,
I'm going to go downstairs, and he's going to be walking.
I'm believing it.
I'm trusting it.
And I'm just, and I'm just like,
almost like I'd have to bang my head on the floor
just to believe this is going to happen in Jesus' name,
you know, and just committed, committed, committed.
And it didn't happen.
And then the Lord took him home.
And we were at his memorial,
and it was amazing, I don't have time to get in all of it,
but it was amazing how his nurses
probably experienced more of the grace of God
through this boy that never said a word,
who was trapped in a wheelchair,
but just smiled all the time,
even after 150 surgeries.
Just smiled.
Like, really?
They just loved, they talked about him
as if they had conversations with him.
And I'm like, wow, like,
did I miss out on something?
You know, I was seeing what he was lacking, okay,
and what he was missing out on, and we all loved him.
And, but like, they actually received something else
from the Lord through this boy who was trapped in a wheelchair,
who couldn't speak a word,
who was just held in captivity of this tent.
And, you know, so when that happened, I'll admit,
my faith in prayer kind of did this quirk screw.
It's like, God's gonna do what he's gonna do, isn't he?
Like, does it really matter?
I'm just being honest.
Don't tell anybody.
I'm confessing.
But I just really was like, what's it matter?
Right?
I mean, have you ever been there?
You don't have to raise your hand.
But have you ever been there?
Like, does it matter at all?
And I'm just like, oh, okay, you know, it's,
but I still, I love you and all that,
but maybe things aren't the same as, you know,
and all that, but I would keep reading,
like in 2 Peter chapter one,
we are new creations, divine nature,
you know, living in the divine power of God.
Like, what about all that?
What about we're new creations?
What about, I will do these things just like the Lord,
just like in Mark chapter 16 verse 17, 18,
these signs will follow those who believe, right?
Thank you, Tammy.
You know, that they will take up serpents
and drink anything deadly,
and they will by no means hurt them,
and they will lay hands on the sick,
and they will recover.
Like, what about all that, God?
You know, what about when he says greater things
you will do than these, you know?
Because when he says that in John chapter 14 and 16,
you will do greater things than even these things that I do.
What about all that?
And then I have Ian, you know?
I'm at it, you know.
And then all of a sudden, the Lord,
just like something came up.
And suddenly, this friend of mine,
he had asbestos-related sinusitis,
and he was on perpetual prednisone,
and he was having significant issues.
And I said, you know what?
Hey, you know, can I pray for you about that?
And he's like, yeah, sure.
And he's a funny guy.
He's, yeah, do it.
He's a believer, a strong believer.
And I prayed, and he tells me, like, a while later,
you know, I've never had another infection again,
and my sinus is after that.
Then I'm like, like, what?
Like, whoa, yeah, I'm like, wow, praise the Lord, you know?
And then all of a sudden, Jill and I went to the hospital,
and this girl and her teens had Guillain-Barre.
I don't know if you've ever heard of that,
but you go paralyzed, and it works its way up.
My mom had it at one point.
And this was traveling up, and it usually just takes over.
Sometimes the whole body, and then if you're feeding it enough antibiotics
and you're doing the blood phoresis and, like, siphoning it out,
it'll eventually creep back out of the body, okay?
But it takes weeks.
My mom was on a ventilator with this stuff.
And I remember just Jill and I literally crying,
kneeling on the floor at the side of her bed, just praying.
And it was working its way up her body,
and then finally got to about here.
And then suddenly we're heard from the parents
that it's going back down.
And they were, what?
Suddenly that happened.
Then suddenly this other guy that had something
like I had with this ventricular tachycardia,
and it was not going away, suddenly it's gone.
And it's not me.
I'm just saying, God was saying, just get up.
Stop this, like, boo-hoo, boo.
Like, what about Ian?
Well, what about everything else that I want you to be praying for?
What about everyone else that needs healing?
I have my own reasons for things, okay?
Perhaps I got somehow more glory out of what happened
at his memorial service than any other thing, you know?
What about that?
Like, who am I to judge God on one situation
and say, all right, that's my go-to example
of why God won't do it this time?
Or won't do it next time?
Like, you know, that is impoverished thinking.
That's wrong thinking.
We have to believe what God can and will do today
and expect that he wants to.
Why should we judge him and say,
oh, you probably don't want to do this, Lord?
You know, why not just trust that he will do it
and wants to do it and believe that he will?
There's been just so many examples.
You know, I was thinking, and I'm like, so many examples
aren't even healing, but I'm thinking, wow.
You know, it could just go on and on and on.
My own mother was a beautiful thing.
And so she was in the hospital.
She was always on her oxygen tank.
She was like blue.
And I'm like, you know, I'm just thinking,
she can't make it through this, you know?
And I said, Mom, can I pray for you?
And I prayed.
All of a sudden, she was off the tank the next day.
She still slept with it.
But she was off the tank.
And she's telling my whole family, Chris prayed for me
and my lungs haven't felt this good in 10 years.
And I'm like, what?
You know, because he still wants to do it today.
You know, Ken and Debbie gave such amazing examples,
like amazing examples on Friday night
that it can go on and on and on.
And giving examples of, I love the one you were sharing,
how you, you know, she had one issue.
You asked more questions.
And she revealed something that was going on in her life.
You prayed for that other situation in her life,
which was a relationship.
And suddenly she was healed from her physical issue.
Like what?
Like, you know, God knows.
God knows what he wants to do, even here today.
You know, can I just see a raise of hands?
How many people here have been healed?
Jerry Dover, you better, do you have five arms?
You better, right?
I mean, I know I have, you know?
I mean, Jerry Dover, five cancers healed from, right?
I mean, we've all been healed.
And you know what?
We also don't even know the things that we were healed from
that we didn't know we had.
He already took them away.
It's like, you know, he just removed them.
There's so many things.
All of you have been healed from things.
And I'm just going to invite, with the balance of our time,
Brie and Jake, if you guys would come up.
And, oh, and Josiah's going to bless us with,
he's joining the group.
All right, let's give Josiah a little.
Now a trio.
Wasn't that a great duo, though?
That was awesome.
But, you know, like, let's expect he wants to do something here today.
He wants to bring healing, you know?
And if you already say, yeah, but this is too complicated for God,
you know it isn't, okay?
He can do whatever he wants.
He has designed you.
He knows every hair on your head,
mine decreasing as each day goes by.
And he knows everything going on in your body.
He knows where it is.
He knows how to fix you.
You know, he made you.
He designed you.
He knows how to fix you.
And perhaps today he wants to do this
just to even boost your faith so that you will go out there
and pray for others for healing.
Because, you know, we're all his hands and feet.
We're all called to do this.
Just like he said before he left, he goes,
you know, you will do these things that I've done.
These signs and wonders will follow you.
You will lay hands on the sick, and they will be healed.
This is going to happen.
So let's worship for a moment,
and we're just going to prepare ourselves,
and we're going to invite you guys to receive healing.
And we're going to keep it right now
specifically to physical healing.
Deliverance can be a little more complicated in this setting, you know.
Perhaps, though, in your heart,
you want to be delivered from a spirit, an evil spirit,
you know, that keeps tormenting you.
You know, he can do that here and now as well.
He can cast it out.
Maybe that's part of the reason you're sick.
You know, we see that again and again in Scripture
that we actually get sick because of the spirit
that is tormenting us.
I've had a tormenting spirit, you know, not possessed.
I was a believer, but I still was tormented.
And I suddenly realized, this isn't me.
These aren't even my thoughts.
Something has latched on to me.
Something is telling me these things,
and this voice isn't coming from within.
It's coming from without.
It's out there, and I'm hearing it.
I don't know how it's getting here,
but I have to just identify what it is and label it.
This is a demonic attack from the enemy.
But I believe the Lord wants to heal us today,
right here, right now.
We're going to ask the Lord to do that.
Let's just sing a measure or two and prepare.
Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church
as we praise God and discuss His Word.
Don't forget to join us for Worship Lives Sunday mornings
at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.
Be blessed and have a great day!